A devastating blaze started by arsonists could change the face of Stockton's High Street forever.

The incident - the most serious on Teesside during the firefighters' walkout - brought businesses and traffic to a standstill as huge flames filled the air and part of the building collapsed.

Experts today were at the scene to establish if what remains of the former Top Rank bingo hall and former cinema can be saved.

Building owner Jonathan Marsh surveyed the scene: "The building's gone, I am devastated."

From the High Street the damage looks moderate but the rear of the funnel-shaped building is a scene of devastation, with the twisted metal framework poking through what little is left of the walls.

Graham Thompson, of the Arson Investigation Unit, was today on his way to the scene.

He said: "There have been arsons here before. It is a bit of a thorn in our sides.

"Because it is such a big building it attracts youngsters and we have been aware of it as a problem."

A spokesman for Nobles Amusements next door said children had been getting into the building and the police had been called just the day before.

Mr Marsh was at the scene as the building burned.

He said: "It looked like everything was all right, then all of a sudden the roof at the back just caved in and you could see the flames.

"The soldiers had been using a thermal imaging camera and said the roof was getting hotter and hotter."

Mr Marsh, who also owns the nearby Bar Ibiza, said it would take many months to sort out the chaos left behind. He said: "I am waiting to hear from the structural engineers about how unsafe what is left is.

"It is a total mess."

There were at least two separate fires started inside the huge building, which has stood empty for a number of years.

It has a narrow frontage but widens out into a massive hall.

At the height of the fire, four red goddesses, three green goddesses, three breathing apparatus tenders and a rescue tender were at the scene.

But lack of hydraulic platforms hampered the battle against the flames as the stand-in firefighters couldn't get the height they needed to tackle the mammoth blaze.

Stockton Council was able to loan some of its "cherry pickers", hydraulic platforms used for changing light bulbs, and they proved very effective.

It was the second major fire in Stockton Town Centre this week - Oscars nightclub and the Norton Road end of the High Street is being demolished after a blaze at the weekend.

Today scores of workers from nearby shops were met by a police cordon.

Tape prevented access to several properties including Quest Clothing, Nobles Amusements, an Oxfam shop, the Royal Exchange pub and Scope charity shop.

Glynis McLauchlan, relief manager for Scope, said staff didn't expect to be allowed in at all today.

She said: "We've been told the wall next to the shop is the one threatening to come down, so nobody is being allowed in until we know for sure.

"There's 2,000 garments in the shop, upstairs there's a store depot and a room where we test all the electrical items. If everything is ruined by smoke as we've been told we will need a lot of help to replace the stock."

In August 1999 planning permission was given for the former bingo hall, which was built in the 1880s, to be converted into a club.

And earlier this year permission was sought to build a balcony at the back of the premises to form a terrace bar.

At its height more than 60 soldiers from the Light Dragoons based at Hartlepool tackled the blaze - which burned for six hours. It was brought under control by about 9.30pm.

The call went out at about 3.45pm yesterday when the two fires at the front and back of the hall were discovered.

Officer in charge, Lt Col David Amos, said: "When the men first went in it was made more difficult for them going in because some floorboards in the building had been removed.

"There were two fires, you can draw your own conclusions.

"There will be an investigation."

Adjacent buildings were evacuated as a precaution and today roads around the back of the building remained closed.

A police light aircraft hovered above the scene of the fire and helped soldiers find hotspots inside the hall.

A Cleveland Police spokesman said: "This was an excellent example of how emergency response teams worked successfully alongside the armed services on a large scale operation."